Getting cosy for the colder weather is no excuse for throwing a stylish home to the wind.
Luckily these four new showroom openings have got you covered, from pick-and-mix soft furnishings to the interiors debut of the mind behind the design of Sexy Fish and Annabel’s.
Shopping at a showroom offers the unique opportunity to get up close and personal with a designer’s vision – and get your hands on exclusive pieces that aren’t available anywhere else.
From Beata Heuman’s fully restored period townhouse in Hammersmith to Anissa Kermiche’s ultra-feminine enclave in Borough Market, House of Arley’s Hackney outpost complete with colour wall to Martin Brudnizki’s swoon-worthy Pimlico venture, here are four of the hottest new showrooms to peruse.
Beata Heuman’s new digs
Owing to the Eventim Apollo and the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith is a neighbourhood you associate with a cultural night out, but Beata Heuman is rekindling it as a destination focused on nesting.
The London-based, Swedish-born interior designer has renovated a Grade II-listed townhouse a stone’s throw from the Tube station, filling it with products from her “Shoppa”, such as wallpapers, fabrics, lighting, rugs and hardware.
Much more characterful than the average showroom, the property has been restored with the same consideration as a home: there’s a library and drawing room, a fully functioning kitchen below-stairs and a charming bedroom up in the eaves (the ascent to which is not for the faint-hearted — or wearers of high heels).
It’s a showcase of Heuman’s playful spirit and masterful use of colour, a space where even the tiniest of loos is an Instagram moment.
It’s an immersive setting to buy into a slice of Heuman’s world (a consolation if you don’t quite have the budget of model Adwoa Aboah, who recently enlisted the designer to make over her west London digs), with cupboard handles starting from £30 a pop and fabrics from £120 per metre.
Open by appointment, and all day on occasional open days. Email 188@beataheuman.com to book. 188 Hammersmith Road, W6 7DJ
Shaping up with Anissa Kermiche
Designer Anissa Kermiche is putting London Bridge on the map for covetable homewares with a new showroom dedicated to her jewellery and viral-sensation ceramics.
Her shapely ceramics are loved by Gwyneth Paltrow and Drake — and now Kermiche has opened a Borough Market showroom
There is even a meeting room wrapped in pink, which shehas taken to calling her bedroom.
The serene space is also a showcase for her debut collaboration with her friend, the rug designer Sibylle de Tavernost; and her newest tabletop collection entitled Tit Tea, where sinuous legs form the handles to teacups.
Open by appointment.
Seeing stripes at Colours of Arley
“Bespoke” needn’t equal budget-busting thanks to Colours of Arley.
From the fledgling brand’s home on Hackney Road, you can compose your own striped fabric (£75 per metre) from a beguiling wall of 180 different colour options.
Disrupting the industry with a pick-and-mix approach, everything is made to order to reduce waste and woven from recycled plastic (each linear metre diverts 12 bottles from landfill).
Create a circus-like shower curtain or cushions in the colour combo of your dreams; the designer Matthew Williamson just ordered fabric to reupholster a sofa, while macaron maverick Ladurée’s ice cream parlour is decked in its own Colours of Arley blend.
With its three widths to choose from and 15,000 possible combinations, any decisions might require bringing a patient friend for a second opinion — and an extra-large coffee.
Open Monday to Tuesday by appointment; Wednesday to Saturday 11am-6.30pm; Sunday 11am-4pm. 61 Hackney Road, E2 7NX.
And Objects
Newson’s Yard on Pimlico Road is a new development tucked away from the main drag in a former timber yard oppositethe Daylesford deli.
Joining Nina Campbell, The Lacquer Company (and soon, a gargantuan Plain English kitchens showroom) is And Objects, Martin Brudnizki’s covetable product division.
Brudnizki is the man who created the interior at Annabel’s and Sexy Fish, and this marks his retail debut.
Swoon over the bonbon-esque striped glass wall lights and caress the pleasing surface of the shell-cast, resin-poured Horndean table.
Or make like a normal person and sign up to its mailing list to be the first to hear about workshops and in-store events.
